Monthly Archives: August 2014

After my bread making success last weekend I decided to give bread another go. I’d seen this recipe on the BBC Good Food website and decided as I still had some wholegrain flour that needed using up I would give it a go. I slightly adapted the recipe by choosing to prove it overnight in the fridge rather than the 1 hour at room temperature as suggested. I have to say I was little disappointed as although my bread did rise quite a bit the end result was a little flat and the bread had quite a heavy texture – it does still taste nice though. I think this may be down to my loaf tin which is quite wide and flat so a new loaf tin is on my shopping list for the weekend! I also struggled to get the seeds added as decoration at the end to stay on and most of the them have popped off when I have cut the bread – this is also a problem I found when I made my cottage loaf last weekend.Continue Reading…

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My Dad came to visit this week and was due to arrive around lunchtime so I decided quiche might be a good lunch option. I’d never made one before and I am also a little nervous when it comes to making pastry so it was a new adventure in baking for me! I had a look at quite a few different recipes but spotted this recipe on the BBC website. As I had some leeks that needed using up, I decided this was the recipe to try. Handily, there is a video that accompanies the recipe showing you step-by-step what you need to do.Continue Reading…

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I had the privilege last week of looking after my gorgeous Goddaughter for the day. I had promised her we would do some baking and after a morning at the aquarium it was back to our house to create something in the kitchen. I thought fairy cakes would be a good option as they are quick and easy to rustle up and can then be decorated in any way you fancy with lots of different colour, flavour and decoration options. We opted for some pink and chocolate icing and Smarties as decoration. We had good fun and she was very proud of her cakes!Continue Reading…

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I entered the Great British Bake Off this year – sadly I never heard anything (although after seeing some of the challenges they’re facing this year this is probably a good thing!). When you enter you have to fill in quite an extensive form which asks you about all the different things you’ve made and any successes and failures. One thing it did highlight to me was the areas of baking I’m less experienced in – baking bread being one of them. In this months BBC Good Food magazine there is a feature all about baking bread which is very helpful and highlights all the benefits of making your own bread such as cost, it not being full of preservatives and most importantly taste! This recipe is from the feature. I’ve made a couple of bread-based things before but I’ve decided I definitely need to try out more bread recipes. I’ve currently got a sourdough starter bubbling away which will I’ll share in a future post.Continue Reading…

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We were at home in Devon last weekend celebrating Mr Birdie’s grandparent’s diamond wedding anniversary – what an achievement! Whilst there we also visited his other grandparents (who celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary earlier this year!) who gave us some homegrown carrots and beetroot. I decided that I wanted to give baking something with the beetroot a go. Of course baking with vegetables is nothing new – carrot cake is a staple on many tea room and cafe menus. I’ve seen recipes for cakes using parsnips, bread using potatoes and tried making a chocolate and courgette cake a couple of years ago.Continue Reading…

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This week bakers around the country rejoiced – The Great British Bake Off is back! If you watched you will know that next week is biscuit week. Inspired by this and today’s terrible weather I decided today was definitely a cookie baking kind of day. I also decided that it’s time to get back to some of my cookbooks. I am forever pinning recipes I have found on the Internet to my Pinterest pages which means I neglect my stack of cookbooks.Continue Reading…